Pretty much everyone lives with some type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There has been a lot of research on how PTSD impacts sleep. However, there are things you can do to minimize the damage. By implementing these tips, you can make some of the negative effects of your PTSD a thing of the past.
Follow these tips to get your circadian rhythm back in sync. While it’s likely to take several weeks or even months to do so, you can utilize these tips to eventually have success with it. Getting your biological clock back in order is the first key to ensuring you can sleep well.
1. Go To Bed and Wake Up At The Same Time
Firstly, you want to ensure that you are going to bed and waking up at the same time. This is the most basic way to reset your biological clock. You want your internal clock to be fully in-sync with the daylight and nightlight cycles.
2. Stick To Using Your Bed For Sleep and Sex
Don’t be using your bed for anything but sleep and sex. Ideally, you want to stick to using it for only sleep and sex because you want the act of getting into bed help trigger to your mind and body that it’s time to sleep. These physical triggers work to prepare you for bed.
3. Optimize Your Sleep Environment
You need your bedroom to be conducive to sleep. The best way to do this is by creating a cool and dark environment where you can get quality sleep. You need to eliminate excess noise that can keep you up at night. To do this, you can get earplugs or use a white noise machine if there is noise coming from outside your home or room. Invest in a good mattress that will keep you comfortable for many years, find out how long a Shifman mattress lasts in these reviews.
4. Stop Drinking
Not only do you want to stop drinking alcohol because it can disrupt your sleep cycles, but you also want to avoid drinking too much liquid at night too. It’s going to make you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night which can force you to disrupt your cycles.
5. Expose Yourself To Daylight
Exposing yourself to daylight as soon as you wake up is one of the best things you can do to improve your internal clock. This will help your body know when it’s time to wake up which makes it easier to fall asleep at a reasonable time. If you cannot expose yourself to daylight by going outside, try to look out the window or do something else that can help align your clock.
6. Don’t Eat Too Late
Avoid eating too late because it can disrupt your ability to fall asleep and to go through sleep cycles. You want to try to eat earlier and eat something light before you go to bed.
7. Avoid Strenuous Exercise Before Bed
While you want to incorporate exercise when you are trying to improve your sleep, you need to be careful about when you are exercising. Try to keep your exercise to the daytime. You don’t want to exercise too close to your bedtime because it can stimulate you and have the opposite effect on your sleep. You need to be able to wind down before you go to sleep.
8. Write Things Down
Keep a journal and write down everything that is worrying you. Getting things out of your head and onto paper is one of the best ways to keep them from keeping you up at night. A lot of people end up allowing thought after thought to creep into their heads and disrupt their sleep. Write things down and you can avoid this.
9. Take a Bath
Taking a warm and relaxing bath is a great way to help raise your body temperature before bed. This can help to induce sleepiness. It’s also a good way to relax your muscles and to help you mentally relax. It’s a soothing experience and it could prep you for a good night of sleep.
10. Get a Massage
You can use a massager or foam roller and massage your muscles before bed. This can help to loosen things up and release a lot of built-up tension that can make it difficult to fall asleep.
11. Warm Your Core
Warming your core section can help to trigger melatonin production. You can use a hot water bottle or even a heated pad and simply rest it on your midsection.
12. Avoid Medication
You want to try to avoid taking any medication before sleeping that causes you to get anxious or stimulated. You also want to avoid relying on any sleep medication too. You’ll need to speak with your doctor when it comes to avoiding medication. Some medications will contain caffeine. Therefore, you’ll want to avoid taking it before bed if at all possible.
12. Use Herbal Therapies
You can try some herbal therapies as they can have a positive effect. Some of the best ones for sleep are passionflower and valerian.
13. Take Magnesium
Magnesium is a good supplement to consider taking to relax your muscles. This can help prep you for sleep.
14. Take Melatonin
You want to take melatonin if you are having a lot of difficulties sleeping. You want to speak with your doctor about it beforehand. However, a lot of people have success with improving their sleep with low doses of melatonin. It’s your body’s natural sleep hormone.
15. Meditate
Meditation is one of the best ways to relax the mind and body to prep it for deep sleep.
